


Cleanse With Fire

by Evil_Little_Dog



Series: Little Things [149]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist
Genre: Community: comment_fic, Drinking, Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-01
Updated: 2014-05-01
Packaged: 2018-01-21 11:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1548575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Little_Dog/pseuds/Evil_Little_Dog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary:  A meeting between Roy and the Elric brothers could be illuminating.<br/>Disclaimer: Arakawa has absolutely all the rights to this, not me.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cleanse With Fire

“Wait a minute.” Roy blinked a couple of times, looking between the Elric brothers. “You burnt down your house? When you were twelve. And I thought I was the little arsonist.” He took a sip of his whiskey to hide his smirk. 

“It wasn’t like that.” Alphonse shook his head. 

“Not at all.” Edward eyed his own drink like it was an enemy to conquer. 

Roy arched his brows. “I don’t suppose you’re going to explain.” 

The brothers exchanged a glance. “It was to give us resolve, to keep moving forward. If we didn’t have a place to come back to, we had to keep going.” Edward shrugged, glaring when Roy snorted. “What?”

“Is that what you tell yourself?”

“You have another theory?” Showing teeth, Edward picked up his glass, swirling the amber liquid in it. 

“Mm. Because yours is worth shit. You burnt down that house to keep people from finding out what you did. Because there were too many memories locked up in it. You burned it down, because you needed to cleanse your sins.” 

Edward had always been too easy to read. Now, his eyes shuttered, and his mouth tightened. Alphonse dropped his head, fiddling with his own glass. “Yeah, so what if we did? We sure as hell wound up paying for them, time and time again,” Edward said, his tone sharp as a stiletto. 

“I didn’t say you didn’t.” Roy warmed to his subject. “But like offerings made to the gods of old,” he ignored Edward’s explosive snort, “you had to give something to start your journey. What best than your childhood home, with all the memories of your mother inside?” 

Alphonse swallowed his liquor in one gulp. Edward growled, but didn’t argue Roy’s impression. For a few seconds, Roy basked in the knowledge he’d left both Elrics speechless. No one would ever believe him, more’s the pity. Deciding a change of subject was in order, he asked, “So, now that you’ve returned from your trips, what are you planning on doing?” 

Alphonse smiled. “Well. We still own the land where our old house was. I think…I want to go back, and build a new house. Not over the old one, but close by.” He grinned when Edward chucked his shoulder. 

“And you, Edward? What are you going to do?” 

He threw back his liquor like a professional, setting the empty glass back with a thump. His cheeks stained with color, but he grinned, cocky as always. “Gotta girl waiting for me at home.” 

“A pregnant girl,” Alphonse muttered, ducking when Edward threw a punch at him. “Hey! It’s true.” 

Roy blinked again. “I suppose congratulations are in order?” he offered, trying to reconcile the ideas that Edward Elric not only had a girlfriend, she was pregnant. Damn it, now he owed money to Havoc. 

“Yeah, I’ll take ‘em. Or you could buy me another drink,” Edward said. 

Alphonse nudged him, showing him a pocket watch. “No, we’ve got a train to catch.” He slid off the bar stool, grabbing his long coat and a suitcase. “Thank you for meeting with us, Major General.” He offered Roy his hand. 

Edward pulled his own coat on. “Yeah, good to see you again, bastard.” He grabbed his own suitcase. “Tell Hawkeye we said ‘hi’.” 

“I will,” Roy said, not about to offer Edward his hand without Edward offering first. “It was good to see you both. I suppose you’ll be sending a wedding invitation?” 

“Pfft, like I want to ruin the ceremony.” 

“Ed!” Alphonse punched Edward with his elbow, sending him dancing sideways and spewing curses. “I’ll make sure you get an invitation,” he said. 

Edward barked out a laugh. “Who says we’re having a ceremony? We’ll just go down and sign the registrar, like everyone else in Risembool.” 

“And jump the fire afterward?” Alphonse teased. 

“Kind of fitting, too, fire to end one life, fire to start a new one,” Roy said. 

Cocking his head to the side, Edward seemed to be considering. “Yeah. And it’d be awesome!” He smiled then, a rare sight indeed, one Roy barely remembered ever seeing. “C’mon, Al, let’s go.” 

“Goodbye, sir,” Alphonse said. 

“Bye.” Edward didn’t look back, wagging his hand above his shoulder as he shouldered his way through the bar, Alphonse trailing in his wake. 

Roy watched the door close behind them, the after-images of the brothers’ joy still flashing in his eyes. He turned back to the bartender. “Madam? Can I have another whiskey, please?” 

Madam Christmas poured for him. “Fire to cleanse away their sins?” she asked. 

He smiled, accepting the glass. “I need to try that one of these days,” he said, taking a drink. But not today, not for a while. He still had too many other things to accomplish, first, and his own sins to goad him on were part of it.

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: _author's choice, author's choice, sometimes the only way to 'fix' something is to burn it down and start over_.


End file.
